The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Friday released the schedule for the upcoming U-19 Women's World Cup that kick starts in January 2021 in South Africa. This will be the first time that the U-19 World Cup will be staged for the women’s division as 16 teams will compete in the tournament. The tournament was originally scheduled to be played in 2021 but was twice postponed, as the ICC now looks to bring parity in both men’s and women's game. The competition will be played in T20 format.
16 teams to compete in Women’s U-19 World Cup
16 teams will be participating in the competition, making it one of the biggest ever ICC events, with 41 matches being played across 15 days. Last month the venues were revealed with Benoni and Potchefstroom hosting the big event. Both cities hosted the ICC U19 Men's Cricket World Cup in January 2020.
Smriti Mandhana
The qualification for the event began in June 2022, with four of the spots being decided by regional qualifiers and the last remaining spot going to USA on account of the side being the only Associate nation eligible to compete under the ICC’s Event Pathway Participation Criteria in the Americas region.
The 16 teams constituting of 11 full ICC members and five associate teams have been split into four groups. The top three teams from each group will progress to the Super Six League stage, where teams from Group A will play against Group D and Group B will compete against Group C.
Indonesia and Rwanda will make their debut in an ICC World Cup event in 2023. While Indonesia beat Papua New Guinea to win the East Asia-Pacific group in July, Rwanda became the final team to qualify for the event after beating Tanzania on Monday, 12 September.
India play South Africa, UAE and Scotland
India are placed in Group D along with hosts South Africa, Scotland and UAE. Four matches will take place each day with Australia playing Bangladesh on the opening day, followed by South Africa taking on India at the Main Oval in Willowmoore Park in Benoni while UAE will go up against Scotland, followed by Sri Lanka v USA at the B Oval.
India’s Schedule at the U-19 Women’s World Cup
14 January 2023 vs South Africa at Benoni
16 January 2023 vs UAE at Benoni
18 January 2023 vs Scotland at Benoni
